Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin has sent a crew into space for the first time in nearly two years, after an unmanned test flight in 2022 failed and passenger flights were temporarily grounded.
The New Shepard rocket successfully completed its 25th mission to space on Sunday. The 10-minute flight was also the seventh time the company has flown tourists into space.
Sunday’s mission had a crew of six, including a former Air Force captain who was selected by President Kennedy in 1961 as the first black astronaut candidate for NASA’s early astronaut corps. Ed Dwight was also included. Dwight was ultimately not selected for the 1963 class, which included Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. Although NASA did not select a black astronaut until 1978, Guion Bruford became the first African American to go into space in 1983, the Associated Press reported.
Dwight, now 90 years old, also made history as the oldest person to go into space. He is nearly two months older than “Star Trek” actor William Shatner, who boarded the plane in 2021.
After returning from a short trip to space, Dwight called it a “life-changing experience.”
“It was really amazing. I thought I didn’t really need this in my life, but now I need it in my life. I’m ecstatic. It was a life-changing experience. Everyone We need to do this.” Dwight said right after. I came out of the capsule on Sunday.
The other five passengers Mason Angell, Sylvain Chiron, Kenneth L. Hess, Carol Schaller and Gopi Sotak include four entrepreneurs and a former accountant from the United States and France, according to the Associated Press. It is said that it was Ticket prices have not been disclosed.
Dwight is a sculptor from Denver. His ticket was sponsored in part by the nonprofit Space for Humanity.
The Associated Press contributed.
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